Cardboard Cathedral planned for quake ravaged Christchurch

Hopefully the sermons will be so dynamic that only the walls will be 'board'. Photo -The Press

Plans for a temporary Christchurch Cathedral made from cardboard have been unveiled in the quake ravaged city today.

The proposed temporary building designed as a substitute for badly damaged Christchurch Cathedral was outlined by renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, The Press newspaper today reported.

The $4 million A-frame building would be created mostly out of locally sourced cardboard tubes, with shipping containers used as foundations.

Mr Ban said the cathedral would hold 700 people and take only three months to build.

A stained glass window would be designed by a local artist, he said.

Christchurch Cathedral Dean Peter Beck said he hoped the building could be completed in time for the first anniversary of the February 22 quake, which claimed 181 lives and destroyed the central city’s cathedral.

A $50,000 feasibility study into the project by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Trust has been launched.

Mr Ban has already built cardboard homes, schools, shelters and a cathedral for disaster zones across the world. Well having already built a cardboard cathedral is a good look on the Shigeru Ban CV.

Newswarped is assuming that this is a non-smoking cathedral give the combustible nature of its building material. Even the incense burners might get banned.